


Colors

by fadedlullabyes



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Superfamily, Superhusbands, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-04
Updated: 2013-09-14
Packaged: 2017-12-25 14:11:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/954045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadedlullabyes/pseuds/fadedlullabyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has a question for his Pops and doesn't expect that sort of answer out of him. He goes to his Dad to verify this claim. </p><p>Or the one where Peter wonders why people are different colors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Peter was sitting at the table, swinging his legs enthusiastically as he concentrated on his coloring. He was taught going out of the lines were bad at school and so he had to perfect this particular skill. His fathers had said it was okay to color outside of the thick black lines but Peter wouldn’t hear it; a quality he got from Tony. 

A pink tongue popped out of Peter’s mouth as he colored a cat. He chose a different color than what he normally did. His daddy had said change was good and that something awesome could come from it. So he’d taken the advice to heart and began to change up different things. 

Peter was a very serious five year old. 

“Hey, Pops, why are people different colors?” Peter asked, looking up from his book. His gaze was curious as his pops considered the question. Peter knew his pops was different than his daddy with the way he spoke. He wasn’t a genius but he was smart.

“Well, Peter, God just likes different flavors. It’s that simple.” Pops answered. Peter could see no lie, it seemed like his father believed it. Peter frowned at the answer. Certainly God didn’t...he couldn’t...could he?

Peter hopped off his chair without another word and made his way down to his dad’s lab. DUM-E swerved it’s hand when Peter entered, giving him a high five. Peter grinned when the robot whirled back to what it was doing when his father yelled at it. 

Steve was behind him when he found Tony hunched over his desk. He was furiously writing on paper like a man possessed and Peter almost felt bad for disturbing his daddy. But he had to get to the bottom of this flavor thing. 

Peter wasn’t disappointed when his father stopped writing and hauled up into his lap. He laughed as Tony nuzzled his head in greeting. Peter stopped laughing when Tony pulled away and gazed up at him with his large brown eyes. 

“Daddy, Pops said God likes different flavors and that’s why people are different colors. Is that...true?” Peter asked. 

“Of course,” Tony answered. He glanced up to Steve to send him a silent message that they would have a talk about this. His husband only shrugged his shoulders in response. 

“But...but...that means God will eat us after we die.” Peter’s lower lip quibbled at the thought of being eaten after he died. This wasn’t like the God he had heard about in church when Pops took him to Mass. 

Before either man could react Peter was in tears. He was clinging to Tony and begging him to not let God eat him. The glances between Tony and Steve spoke volumes and J.A.R.V.I.S. was already recording this moment for later blackmail material. Tony was damned if he was going through the teenage years without some sort of insurance on Peter. 

“Hey, there, Short Stack. God isn’t going to eat you. What Pops meant was that the world would be boring with only one color so he made people different. Do you understand?” Tony asked, sending Steve a glare for scarring their five year old son. 

Steve blushed at the look before ducking his head. He didn’t know Peter would take it that way and if he had, he would have explained races a different way. He knew for a five year old his child was smart and could probably understand the reason. But he wanted to keep Peter innocent just a bit longer. 

“So he won’t eat me?” Peter asked, needing the reassurance. 

“Of course not.” Tony said with a roll of his eyes and a grin on his face. “You would taste awful.” 

“Daaadddd.” Peter whined when Tony licked his cheek and made a disgusted face. 

“See. Awful.” Tony smirked. 

Steve laughed when Peter scrambled from Tony’s lap to hide behind his leg. Steve’s hand ran through Peter’s hair as the child looked up to his fathers. 

“Even if God ate people, you would protect me?” 

“Of course, silly goose. We’re your dads.” Steve said with a soft smile. “Now come on. I believe you have a page to finish coloring.” 

“I’ll race you!” Peter shouted before he darted off, not waiting for an answer from his pops. Steve, of course, was allowing his son to have a head start. 

“He’s gonna be trouble when he’s sixteen.” Tony groaned. He buried his face in his hands and rubbed his temples. 

“Peter’s a very smart kid. He’ll figure things out on his own. For right now though, we’ll enjoy this and record these embarrassing moments so we can cry over them later.” Steve said as Tony stood and stretched. He’d been in the lab for hours and it was time he took a break with his favorite people.  
Tony pressed a kiss to Steve’s lips and headed out of the lab when they heard Peter yelling for them. “We’re going to let him get away with a lot of shit aren’t we?”

“I’m afraid so.” Steve said as they linked hands and entered the kitchen. Peter was proudly holding up his perfectly colored page for his parents to see. 

Tony took the paper and used a magnet to keep it on the fridge. It was by far the best coloring job Peter had done and he was going to show it of. It was his tower anyway and he would use that childish excuse if the others objects; not that they would anyway. 

“So, what movie we watching, Short Stack?” Tony asked as he picked his son up and wrapped an arm around Steve’s waist. They headed into the den and Peter climbed out of Tony’s arms to pick a movie. 

It was cute watching Peter interact with J.A.R.V.I.S. with his head tilted toward the ceiling. When Peter was three he was convinced the A.I. lived in the ceiling and the little habit he formed never left their son. When Peter finally picked a movie the small family piled on the couch with Peter between Steve and Tony. He grinned as his father’s allowed him to drape over their laps, his feet in Steve’s lap and head in Tony’s. 

J.A.R.V.I.S. may have or may have not taken a picture.


	2. Beliefs Don't Define a Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is twelve and wants to discuss his religious beliefs with his dads.

“Hey, Dad. Can we uh...talk?” Peter asked. His foot was bouncing against the floor as if he were nervous about something.

 

Tony wasn't used to anyone else but Bruce in his lab. It was weird having his son, Peter, in it attempting to have a conversation when he usually was photographing the other Avengers without their knowledge.

 

He could tell something was up by the expression on the twelve year olds face; looking for all the world constipated and uncertain. Tony was just hoping he wasn't about to have The Talk with Peter. Tony felt it was just too soon for that and he just really wanted Steve to handle it because he was the last person on earth who should talk to Peter about sex.

 

“What do you need, Shortstack?” Tony put his soldering gun down and lifted his goggles up. This was his way of saying that he was listening and would wait for Peter to finish before giving his own opinion.

 

“How old were you when you knew you didn’t believe in God?” Peter found a chair and sat down. His fingers were laced between his knees as he struggled to speak and tell his father what he was going through.

 

The question had Tony stunned. He had never expected those words to pass through his son’s lips. He had thought he would have to wait a bit longer to have this talk with Peter. Tony didn’t want his son to grow up like he did.

 

“I was eight.” Tony said grimly. His lips were set in a thin line as he ran a hand through his dark hair peppered with gray. Sharing this story wasn’t on his list to do with Peter; especially since it involved Howard.

 

“Did your father hate you?” Peter asked curiously; though his tone was slightly scared.

 

“My father was the reason I stopped believing.” It was hard to call that man father. Steve understood and Tony wanted to keep Peter away from any stories of his old man.

 

“Oh.” Peter said flatly. “Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t believe in God when I was four and thought God was gonna eat me?”

 

“You remember that?” Tony asked. He was startled that Peter even remembered that incident. He couldn’t tell his son the scientific answer, no matter how much he had wanted to. Tony couldn’t bear the thought that he would have been just like Howard and crushed a child’s belief. Of course he and Steve had fought after that fiasco about the explanation Steve had given Peter. Tony had given in and allowed Steve to raise Peter as Christian until he would be thirteen. Tony would have preferred a younger age, but he would take what he could get because he wouldn’t raise an ignorant child.

 

“Yeah. I do. I remember being scared and you guys just handled it like pro’s. But there was always doubt in the back of my mind.” Peter answered with brutal honesty. It was a trait he learned from Tony.

 

“Why did you have doubt?”

 

“You never went to church with Pops and I.” Peter answered with a shrug. “And Mrs. Hendrickson always told Pops that he could do better than you.”

 

“She what?” Tony asked, leaning forward to study his son.

 

“It was the same thing every Sunday and she’d call you a heathen. I asked Pops what she meant, but he said it was nothing to worry about.” Peter worried his lower lip before continuing. “He seemed upset about it. I don’t know if it was ‘cause you weren’t there or if it was Mrs. Hendrickson. But I asked him why you didn’t come with us and he said it was your choice and I’d know when I was older.”

 

“It’s not an easy decision, Peter. We were going to have this talk in a few days with all three of us. We wanted you to make your own educated decision regarding religion.” Tony said. “And I didn’t want to bombard you with all the science jargon. Steve would have killed me.”

 

He didn’t know what to think about Mrs. Hendrickson since Steve was too polite to tell her to fuck off. He’d more than likely have a tight smile on his face while telling her Tony was working; which was true. Sunday mornings Tony worked so he could spend the afternoon with his family.

 

“I knew that. It’s just been hard because I don’t know if I believe in God anymore and I don’t want to break Pop’s heart.” Peter’s tone was sad, like he actually believed Steve would hate him for being an atheist.

 

“Peter, Steve would love you no matter what. Did you know one of the few times I’ve seen him cry was when he held you as a baby?” Tony wasn’t good at this whole sentimental thing; it was Steve’s department.

 

“Dad, really. You don’t have to do the whole emotion thing.” Peter waved his hand. It was already uncomfortable enough as it was that they were talking about something like this; he just couldn’t make his father fidget any longer. It was bad enough Tony had a picture tacked to the wall where his face was clearly displeased at holding a baby Peter.

 

“I know. It’s just. Crap.” Tony didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t good at this and it had taken Steve years to get him to open up about Tony felt. Peter was different, this was his son and he felt he needed to do this.

 

“Seriously. You might pop a blood vessel or something.” Peter rolled his brown eyes before patting Tony on the shoulder.

 

“Really?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Something else is bothering you. Is it a girl? Please don’t let it be a girl, I’m not ready for you to date. I have to sex proof everything and then there’s the talk about the birds and the bees and the bees and the bees; do they even call it that if you’re gay? I don’t think I can have that talk...”

 

“Dad! Really! Uncle Thor had that talk with me already. You don’t have to speak to me about it. How does Pops put up with that?” Peter’s smile wasn’t strained anymore as his body relaxed. He was afraid of approaching Steve with this topic and disappointing the man; he was Captain America after all and no one disappoints Captain America.

 

“Wait, what? Thor?” Tony asked, standing when he realized Peter was heading out of the lab. He told Dum-E to clean up for the day so that he wouldn’t have to worry about it later. J.A.R.V.I.S of course would watch over the robot and make sure there would be no fire extinguishers harmed during clean up.

 

“Yeah,” Peter shrugged his shoulders. “He uh...just said I was at that age and I think I’m scarred for life from that talk. He even went into kink and thank God Aunt Natasha showed up. I was ready to explode. But that’s not what’s bothering me.”

 

“I’m sorry, Shortstack. You know how enthusiastic he gets about these things.” Tony patted Peter’s back in sympathy. Thor’s lectures were long winded and very detailed; a thing everyone tried to avoid. “So tell me, what is.”

 

“Me and Pops won’t have anything in common anymore. Me and you have science and church was kinda mine and Pops thing. But it’ll be gone and I don’t know what we’ll have to talk about.”

 

“Are you kidding me, Peter?” Tony asked with a pointed look. “You two are always fawning over art. I mean, Steve doesn’t enjoy modern art like you do, but still. You guys are like fangirls.”

 

The smile on Peter’s face was worth as they arrived to the kitchen to find Steve sitting at the table reading the paper. No matter how much Tony complained that he could just read it on the newest Stark Tablet, Steve still bought a newspaper from a vendor on the street.

 

“Hey, guys.” Steve said as he looked up. Tony pressed a kiss to his nose before taking a seat next to his husband while Peter took one across from them.

 

“Pops. I have something to tell you.” Peter’s voice wasn’t steady and he was fiddling the edge of his sleeve. He could tell by the smile on Steve’s face that no matter what he said, he’d still be loved and that was enough to give Peter the courage he needed to tell his father about his religious preference.

 


End file.
